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Mayor gives mixed guidance on nonresident veteran’s banners as council revisits policy
Summary
Residents asked whether nonresidents may buy Hometown veteran’s banners that would not be displayed; Mayor Finnegan at one point said buyers could mark an application to have a banner withheld and given to the purchaser, but later reiterated an intent to keep the program limited to current or former residents. Council discussed pricing differences.
Mayor Frank Finnegan and residents debated whether nonresidents may purchase Hometown’s veteran’s banners and request they not be displayed.
At the citizen’s hearing, Phil Mottl asked if people could "purchase veteran’s banners for people who don’t live in town and not have them displayed?" Mayor Finnegan responded: "applications are at the Clerk’s office. Just note on the application that it will not be displayed and it will be given to the purchaser." The exchange appears in the meeting record during the early public-comment period.
Later in the meeting the banner question resurfaced. Clerk Walker and council members discussed the program’s eligibility and fee structure; Alderman Forney raised the price difference if the banner were not displayed, which Mayor Finnegan said was $178 compared with $110. During that later discussion a resident, Jan Forney, again asked about opening the Hometown Heroes banners to non-residents; the minutes record that "the Mayor Finnegan is intent on keeping it to residents only, past or present." The council did not adopt a formal policy change at the May 26 meeting.
The record shows two distinct statements from the mayor during the same meeting: an initial procedural instruction for how a buyer could obtain a banner without display, and a subsequent statement of intent to restrict the program to residents. The council did not record a final vote or ordinance altering eligibility at this meeting.
